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Ambrose's 203.241 mph lap at Michigan is NASCAR's fastest in 25 years

June 15, 2012

Marcos Ambrose beat the previous track record at Michigan and became just the fourth different driver in Cup Series history to sit on the pole with a speed in excess of 200 mph. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Ambrose turned in a lap of 203.241 mph in qualifying for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway to become the first driver in the series since 1987 to post a pole speed in excess of 200 mph. The speed also pummeled the old track record of 194.232 set by Ryan Newman in June of 2005.

Ambrose is just the fourth driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history (Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough, Bill Elliott) to win a pole with a speed in excess of 200 mph. Elliott's 203.827 mph at Talladega in 1987 was the last time the 200-mark was topped in qualifying.

“It's really exciting to get that speed and to claim to be the fastest guy is awesome,” Ambrose said. “It felt like [200 mph], too. It was a really fun time out there.”

A total of forty drivers topped the previous track record, and 19 drivers eclipsed the magical 200 mph mark.

It was the first career pole for Ambrose, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports. Ambrose's start on Sunday will be his 134th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and his pole speed—the 11th-quickest pole-winning speed in series history--clearly impressed his car owner.

“That's like IndyCar speeds; 203 is more exciting to me than sitting on the pole,” said Petty, who qualified on the pole at Michigan with a speed of 158.569 in 1976. “We knew it was going to be fast.”

Following the qualifying session, teams started working on setups to accommodate new left-side tires that Goodyear is supplying teams for the race. The new tire is an answer to blistering that several teams reported in practice on Friday. The new tire expected to slow the cars down.

“The speed is not going to go away much,” Harvick said. “It's still going to be really fast [on Sunday]. Our car has been good through most of the weekend, and now we're got a tire change we have to figure out.”

After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday

At Michigan International Speedway

Brooklyn, Mich.

Lap length: 2 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 203.241 mph.

2. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 202.037.

3. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 201.816.

4. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 201.72.

5. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 201.472.

6. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 201.461.

7. (21) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 201.444.

8. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 201.37.

9. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 201.247.

10. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 201.179.

11. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200.882.

12. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200.725.

13. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 200.686.

14. (55) Mark Martin, Toyota, 200.591.

15. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 200.39.

16. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 200.384.

17. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 200.317.

18. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 200.133.

19. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 200.111.

20. (22) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 199.944.

21. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 199.612.

22. (33) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 199.54.

23. (23) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 199.474.

24. (13) Casey Mears, Ford, 198.555.

25. (2) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 198.473.

26. (51) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 198.238.

27. (98) Michael McDowell, Ford, 198.118.

28. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 197.922.

29. (19) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 197.78.

30. (26) Josh Wise, Ford, 197.699.

31. (47) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 197.395.

32. (83) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 197.087.

33. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 197.055.

34. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 197.028.

35. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 196.829.

36. (36) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 196.818.

37. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 196.77.

38. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 196.673.

39. (93) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 193.107.

40. (32) Ken Schrader, Ford, owner points.

41. (10) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, owner points.

42. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, owner points.

43. (49) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 195.117.

Failed to Qualify

44. (30) David Stremme, Toyota, 194.295.

45. (74) Stacy Compton, Chevrolet, 193.606.

Mike Pryson
- Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and M-Live Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek as online motorsports editor In 2012.
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